Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Still Life

Watching the Rescue

The TV coverage of the rescue of the Chilean miners was some of the best TV I have seen in years, in large part because, at the times I watched it, there was no distracting commentary. I found the time I spent watching was a prayerful experience. And one of the things that occurred to me was how well this event captured what Christians believe about death and life.

Our faith tells us that we aren’t meant to live permanently in this world, just as the miners weren’t meant to stay underground. And when the time comes, through the efforts and prayers of countless people here and in heaven (above all, through the power of Christ) we will make the passage into the world we are meant for, our dying being the capsule that takes us there. Then, when our passage is done, we will be received with incredible joy and love as we step out into the world we were meant for.

The scene of each person’s being brought up one by one, the last one’s being welcomed with as much enthusiasm as the first, was also a reminder that though each one of our deaths will be an individual thing, what awaits — if we live as good a life as we can — is an eternal celebration meant for us as individuals and all of us together as one family united in Christ.

Seeing Red

Wisdom Ancient and Timely

St. Polycarp, an early Christian bishop, says that God is the one “who sees all things as they really are.”

I’m struck by that phrase because I think a lot that goes on around us has nothing to do with things as they really are, but, instead, things as we’d like them to be or things we’d like to fool others into believing are true.

But the fact of the matter is, none of us sees the “whole truth.” We are limited in our knowledge and judgment, and it takes humility to forgo saying “This is the way things are” and say instead, “This is what I see. What do you see?

If we can’t do that, then we can’t engage in dialogue with others and our own lives suffer as a result. They become narrow and we don’t let ourselves grow from encountering new people or new ideas. We get into a rut and, as one person put it: the difference between a rut and a grave are just the dimensions.

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